Melbourne Theatre Company
Presents
Faith Healer
By Brian Freil
Directed by Judy Davis
Set Designer – Brian Thomson
Costume Designer – Tess Schofield
Lighting Designer – Verity Hampson
Composer and Sound Designer – Paul Charlier
Stage Manager – Whitney McNamara
Cast:
Teddy – Paul Blackwell
Frank – Colin Friels
Grace – Alison Whyte
Southbank Theatre, The Sumner
4 March – 8 April 2017
Director and, actors all of extraordinary
caliber, offer audiences a perfectly stripped back yet marvelously nuanced Belvoir
Street production of Brian Friel’s Faith
Healer at The Sumner Theatre until April 8.
Considered to be Irish writer Friel’s
masterpiece it is made up of four rich and complex monologues that hinge on that ‘slippery fish’ memory.
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| Colin Freils as Francis Hardy - Photo Jeff Busby |
Colin Friels embodies the cunning,
calculated yet disarmingly sincere character Francis Hardy – Frank the Faith Healer
of the title. As the work opens he
launches into a deeply intriguing and mysterious monologue, riddled with self-reflection,
about aspects of his life and particularly work as a ‘Healer’. With costuming (Tess Schofield) reminiscent
of a tramp from a Samuel Becket text, a comfortable demeanor and enthusiasm to
inform, Friel engages us through many marvelously descriptive passages. Like a transient Artist dependent on a
fleeting and unreliable muse, Frank’s life has been colourful and full of risk,
by nature of the vicissitudes and unpredictability of his profession.
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| Alison Whyte as Grace - Photo Jeff Busby |
Alyson Whyte as the fragile more unsettling
character of Grace, Frank’s partner then takes the stage. Never to be Frank’s wife, but shamefully, his
devoted mistress Grace tells her version of the same events. In doing so she exposes some of his glaring
weaknesses. Grace appears to be caught
in the web of Frank’s illusions that pull asunder her relationship to her disapproving
father. She has little agency as a
dependent and is devastatingly unable to achieve the elevated status of a
mother. All this aside she keeps
returning to the familiarity of the damp mattress that is her bed with Frank.
Then Teddy, Frank’s manager played by Paul
Blackwell, delivers his insights. Teddy
manages to put considerably more cheer into proceedings in the form of beer
after beer and extraordinary anecdotes about ‘two dogs.’ Blackwell, one senses, could have us rolling
in the isles in stitches if he chose. Yet
as consummate actor, he has the experience and restraint to briskly and most
entertainingly convey his quirky characters side of the story. Some of Teddy perceptions have a sort of
ridiculous romanticism to them as he observes the tortured relationship between
Frank and Grace with considerable tenderness.
This is what has empowered him to choose the anomalous soundtrack, for
Frank’s healing proceedings, of Jerome Kern’s ‘Just The Way You Look
Tonight.’ Teddy too, like all of us I
guess, is at the very least a little delusional.
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| Paul Blackwell as Teddy - Photo Jeff Busby |
Blackwell infuses Teddy with a dignity that
suggests he feels he is in a position to choose his circumstances. Though in all likelihood, he is just as
dependent on the benevolence of the very flawed Frank as Grace is.
In the light of what the other characters
have said, Colin Freils’s Frank, in his final monologue, comes across as a
fairly wretched character – self-serving, repulsive but fascinating. And yet each audience member’s perception of
him will be dependent on individual sympathies, understanding and compassion as
well as how this organic production melds together on any given night.
The set by Brian Thompson is also pared
back to a cloudy sky scape that becomes darker and more enveloping. Light (Verity Hampson) and projection work
magically together. Sound (Paul
Charlier) often a redolent drumming, when there, is usually placed just under
the action.
The Direction by Judy Davies exhibits
clarity, precision and an infinite fascination and respect for the intricate
complexity of what it is to be human.
Through this metaphysical work about the
messy fringes of life one feels challenged, revealed and enlightened.
As a footnote I need to say Faith Healer is strong and intense and
likely to polarize audiences. I found it
to be an immensely satisfying, intricate and stunningly handled production that
I highly recommend and would gladly see again.
Marvelous Theatre.
Suzanne Sandow
(For Stage Whispers)
